Bento doesn’t have to mean rice, of course. Even a sandwich lunch can be made to look pretty and cute. Just pull out your pretty bento boxes and accessories!

This is another a deconstructed sandwich (like no. 6) that you assemble yourself at lunchtime.

The advantages of assembling the sandwich when you eat it are that the bread doesn’t get soggy (and/or you don’t have to spread butter on the bread to serve as a moisture barrier), and you can carry more filling with you, in the bento box. And bringing your own sandwich means you can choose exactly what kind of bread and filling you want. Here I have used a staple, Sweet pepper and onion confit, and a hearty homemade whole wheat bread with walnuts and dried cranberries in it. Any kind of good, rustic bread can be used here. The cheese is a brebis, a fresh (unaged) type of cheese made from sheep’s milk. Feta, goat or farmer’s cheese are similar.

Here’s how the bento looks all packed up. The bento box is from Japan, the cat napkin is Swiss and the kitchen towel I wrapped everything up in is from France. Spreading this out at lunchtime is a bit more fun than pulling a soggy sandwich out of a brown paper bag….

And here’s an assembled sandwich.

I wrapped it up in a napkin to catch any drips. It was delicious.

Assembly of this just involves cutting the bread, putting the confit and cheese in one part of the bento box and some cut-up fruit in another. If you have the confit and fruit ready to go, it comes together in just a few minutes.